Doctors left a surgical sponge in Erica Parks' abdomen. After a six-hour emergency surgery to untangle the infected mass from her intestine, she needed nearly three weeks of hospitalization.

Written by

Peter Eisler
| USA Today

Erica Parks knew something wasn't right in her belly when she left the Alabama hospital that performed her cesarean section in 2010.

Over the next month, her stomach grew so swollen that she looked pregnant again. By the sixth week, her bowels had shut down entirely. Parks, an Air Force major, staggered in to see her doctor, who sent her immediately to the emergency room.

X-rays showed that a surgical sponge the size of a washcloth had been left in Parks' abdomen. After a six-hour emergency surgery to untangle the infected mass from her intestine, she needed nearly three weeks of ...